Digifesto

It’s worthwhile in comparison with Arendt’s discussion of Athenian democracy to consider the ancient Chinese alternative. In Alfred Huang’s commentary on the I Ching, we find this passage:

The ancient sages always applied the principle of managing a household to governing a country. In their view, a country was simply a big household. With the spirit of sincerity and mutual love, one is able to create a harmonious situation anywhere, in any circumstance. In his Analects, Confucius says,

From the loving example of one household,
A whole state becomes loving.
From the courteous manner of one household,
A whole state becomes courteous.

Comparing the history of Europe and the rise of capitalistic bureaucracy with the history of China, where bureaucracy is much older, is interesting. I have comparatively little knowledge of the latter, but it is often said that China does not have the same emphasis on individualism that you find in the West. Security is considered much more important than Freedom.

The reminder that the democratic values proposed by Arendt and Horkheimer are culturally situated is an important one, especially as Horkheimer claims that free burghers are capable of producing art that expresses universal needs.